Moral 1:0 victory for Bayern against Atlético

Bayern won their final Champions League group match 1:0 against Atlético. They dominated the match but it would not make them win the group.

A second place sees the German giants risking a tough opponent in the draw for the next stage.

First half: bypassing the air-tight defence

Despite changing their tactical formation from the convincing weekend victory against Mainz, Bayern took control of the match right from the very beginning. The Bavarians faced a densely packed Atlético midfield and defence. Defending deeply, the Spaniards looked satisfied with soaking up the pressure and waiting for any counter chances.

Play and possession quickly balanced out as Atleti gathered some momentum and got the first major chance of the match (10’). Koke managed a through pass for Carrasco whose low powerful drive was blocked by Neuer. And again as the Belgian got in another low deflection (16’), but was easily picked up by Neuer.

The Reds came back with a chance from Costa (20’) whose powerful shot from near the back line was deflected by Oblak back into the Brazilians path. The ball got redirected back into the box before being fumbled out of danger.

Bayern opened the score (28’) with Lewandowski recreating his weekend free-kick goal. Close range and at a bit of an angle the Pole’s shot went flying straight into the top corner past the diving Oblak.

For the remainder of the half it was the Bavarians in possession for the majority of the time, but without any other major chance on goal. On the other side of the pitch Atlético tightened spaces even more as they brought back all 11 players in their own half.

Second half: chipping away

Bayern had a running start to the second half as Lewandowski (48’) almost got a one-on-one with Oblak, but was overtaken at the last second by the sole defender. Again it was die Roten to dominate possession in the first minutes of the half.

Next up to come close to a one-on-one with Oblak was Robben (54’) after being set up beautifully by Sanches. The Dutchman was unable to get his shot as he was pulled by a defender and his second try got deflected into a corner.

With every passing minute Bayern looked more and more dangerous, finding spaces as the Atleti defence began to spread thinner.
As the Spaniards were forced to go forward in search of a equalizer, Bayern had a lot more chances to counter through the fast duo of Robben and Lewandowski. The Dutch winger went past his man ridiculously easy, but his cross was headed well over goal from a favorable central position (74’).

The game looked over as Costa’s cross in found Thiago all alone in the six yard box, but shockingly the stumbling midfielder managed to send the ball high and over the crossbar (78’).

The match ended with not much else happening and a deserved victory for the Germans.

Reporter from Timişoara, Romania. Journalist by profession and a skeptic by nature, Vlad has been an adamant Bayern München follower for more than half of his life, ever since he watched the ’99 Champions League Final with his dad. Since then, he has forgiven, but not forgotten, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Bayern ended the season with yet another self-inflicted defeat in a defining game. Eintracht Frankfurt gave the Bavarians a lesson in self-respect and won the DFB-Pokal with a fantastic fighting spirit.